Yeahhhhhh they're printing pieces I like, theorized when I was figuring out combos. The new Triskellion is even a 0 cmc artifact which has a lot of upsides...My friends have experimented with 2color leaders allowed to splash a color (I've heard good stories of old Olivia + white) Gonna try suggesting that we do that again so I can run some blue, I think it needs to be done for science. I know it'll end up being one of those things you post in the variant thread page or w/e but I'll still leave it here/message you it. You've always seemed to have an appreciation for the homebrew formats

Sounds pretty interesting.

Gonti's Aether Heart seems to provide infinite turn potential for those who like janky decks. There are ways to produce infinite and ways of infinitely recurring creatures. Basically, recurring Riftsweeper means you can recover Gonti's Aether Heart and get the extra turn the next turn. Although it would be overkill, you could potentially bypass most cards and develop an entire build based on stax and and get infinite turns. Hmmmm... to the brewing board!

Played a game last night against Zur the Enchanter and Sygg, River Guide (it was actually two games; the first game I had a very slow start due to bad hands I had no choice but to keep with Zur winning the game by turn 5, but then we had a second game; this analysis is on the latter).

I had a great start with Ancient Tomb and Bayou into a Tireless Tracker turn 2. I was able to keep opponents sacrificing things even without Mazirek out. However, when I got Mazirek out, I had Smothering Abomination, Phyrexian Arena, and Living Plane in play. I sacrificed all my lands for a ton of mana and card draw. Then I cast Splendid Reclamation and sacrificed it all again. I literally dug into more than half my deck and didn't get either Eternal Witness or The Gitrog Monster. I did draw into a Golgari Charm which I was gonna use to give all creatures -1/-1 and thus wipe the board of lands but it was countered. I kept my Reliquary Tower in play as my only land (since I had like 50+ cards in hand). Tireless Tracker had over 20 +1/+1 counters, as did Mazirek and Reliquary Tower. I was able to take out the Sygg player and eventually the Zur player. It was an amazing turn that took me almost 20mins. But I wasn't stalling and my opponents were quite impressed with the synergy. Had Golgari Charm not been countered, I would've won then and there in that turn. But winning 2 turns later wasn't so bad .

What I feel is important about these two games is the importance of cards like Innocent Blood, Merciless Executioner, etc. In the first game, if I would've had them early on, Zur wouldn't've won so easily because it was strictly Voltron - and maybe not at all. In the second game, although I drew into 60% of my deck and not found what I wanted, I was still able to win the game even with basically having no mana production in play. I basically sacrificed it all for the win. Even when it's not optimal, the synergy simply provides too many things to do that you're bound to do something to get that win.

Sly Requisitioner - Not only does tapping artifacts pay for its casting cost, but it creates tokens whenever an artifact you control is sent to the graveyard. Meaning that every egg cracked replaces itself with a 1/1 Servo. When the triggers are placed accordingly on the stack (with Mazirek in play), the Servo enters the battlefield with the +1/+1 counter. Definitely worth testing for the Artifact Matters Build!

Herald of Anguish - Having opponents discard at the end of turn is just a bonus. However, it provides a sacrifice outlet for artifacts that could potentially get rid of indestructible creatures. It might be clunky but could definitely be useful depending on the meta.

Perilous Predicament - Very overcosted. I'm surprised it didn't have improvise. Each opponent could potentially sacrifice two creatures. It costs 1 more than Barter in Blood. However, not everyone runs artifact creatures. Again, this one is more of a meta call.

Yahenni, Undying Partisan - Provides a free sac outlet. It gets pumped whenever creatures an opponent controls dies. So it can get counters regardless if Mazirek is in play. I may consider it for the Budget Build if it's cheap. It's not broken enough for the other two builds and finding space is difficult as it is.

Winding Constrictor - A very risky card to run. Granted, it's a Hardened Scales like effect on a body, however, it also behaves the same way with poison counters, -1/-1 counters and other detrimental counters. If your meta has infect, you may want to pass on this one.

Gonti's Aether Heart - If is a theme anyone would like to incorporate into the deck (even then, you don't need other cars for the deck because Gonti's Aether Heart already provides an efficient way of getting ) this could potentially give you an extra turn. Sometimes an extra turn is all you need to secure the win. And, it's very easy to get those required energy counters with the Artifact Build.

Scrap Trawler - It may be a good way to recover eggs but I feel it's a bit convoluted. Most eggs have a casting cost of 1 and in order to take advantage of the effect, the casting cost has to be strictly less than.

Implement of Ferocity - a new "egg" that could be considered for the deck. However, it has the unfortunate timing of only being crackable at sorcery speed.

Inspiring Statuary - This is a great way to cast spells after sacrificing land creatures or after losing lands. It's also a great way to use eggs for something more than cracking. Additionally, with all the Servos, Thopters, Pentavites, Triskelavites, and Clues that the Artifact Build produces, they can be used as pseudo mana rocks for casting non artifact spells. Definitely worth considering.

Aid from the Cowl is not bad because it can get you a free permanent at the end of each turn. I find it a bit winmore but since we're sacrificing something we can get a freebie on the battlefield. Hm, it's definitely worth considering.

Lifecrafter's Bestiary makes all your creature spells into Elvish Visionary. However, with so much free draw by simply sacrificing something, I wouldn't want to make my creatures any more expensive than they already are just to draw a card.

Lifecrafter's Gift is not a bad card but it's not for this deck. You don't need a spell to specifically give your creatures +1/+1 counters when you can do that with other cards that are more synergistic with the deck. It'd be quite the bummer to draw into this instead of something more useful.

Unbridled Growth would be okay in a super budget build since it has a free self-sacrificing outlet that gives you a card draw. Apart from that, I wouldn't consider it in any build with a bit of a budget.

Hidden Herbalists is something that I wouldn't put in the deck at all. There are simply so many superior cards for mana advantage compared to this one.

Fatal Push is definitely not worth a slot simply because we have much better removal in the deck thanks to the stax.

Greenwheel Liberator is a great card but just not here. Again, with all the different ways to synergistically get +1/+1 counters on creatures why use up a slot on a creature that conditionally enters with +1/+1 counters on it?

All in all the concept of revolt is not a bad mechanic. However, the cards that have the mechanic are underwhelming as far as Mazirek is concerned. This is a general that has so many viable strategies tied to it in so many combinations that I've cut out or don't run great cards simply because there are even better cards than those as far as synergy and purpose is concerned. This is why I don't waste my time with cards unless they're better than what I'm already running, provide more gears to the epic engines possible for Mazirek, or are just plain amazing for the deck. Even then, of all the cards I mentioned above in my analysis, I doubt most of them will find slots in the deck. I have to envision what to take out and how they'd work in it to see if they're worth putting in. Once Oracle updates and I'm able to test them in Cockatrice I'll be able to find some definitive data on how they run in order to see if any changes are permanent. Even now I'm having a difficult time seeing which temporary swaps to make for them - even knowing that some of them would be amazing in the deck.
So far, the only cards I would seriously consider testing (even then, only for the Artifact Build) are:

Gyre Sage and it's cousin Viridian Joiner are quite different than the other two, as they will be able to produce a lot of G on their own with multiple +1/+1 counters, but the other two enable something else. Rishkar can be pretty handy since he himself is a creature for receiving +1/+1 counters and being a threat instead of just a tool. However he only enables G, whereas Cryptolith Rite would enable B as well (or any other color you might want).

If I'm making tokens and I want to keep most of them around for combat and sacrifice some when needed for effects and pumping the others, I personally prefer Cryptolith Rite over Rishkar as it enables both colors, is slightly harder to remove, and doesn't require my creatures to have +1/+1 counters on them.

There is also a slight drawback to Sage versus Joiner in that Sage won't produce any mana right away -- it has to have +1/+1 counters on it. Joiner doesn't, but its drawback is that it costs a mana more which competes with the other 3-drops in the list. And it's easy enough to trigger Evolve on Sage at least once.

So I launched into that because I don't view this as a mutually exclusive decision between Sage, Rite, and Rishkar. I don't view them all as the same role and I'd want to run Sage and the Rite. With things like Reyhan, Last of the Abzan and Death's Presence (if you run that) the Sage could produce tons of mana.

I concur; Gyre Sage is ridiculous. It produces an insane amount of mana. It very easily acquires counters in this deck. And, when it gets going and you want to do a lot of things in a single turn, it pays to have a lot of mana available.

The deck already contains a lot of stax effects so I felt I could drop Barter in Blood in favor of Heroic Intervention. Nothing sucks more than investing a lot of +1/+1 counters onto your creatures and a whole host of things only to have those dreams destroyed along with your creatures. Heroic Intervention is a great way to bypass destroy spells with clauses against regeneration. Inspiring Call has saved me so many times I'm so glad to have it again in the deck (and cheaper, to boot!) - oh, and with the added bonus of hexproof. Thankee kindly!

Thopter Squadron not being usable at instant speed was kinda depressing. Since I'm already running Triskelavus and Pentavus, taking it out of the deck was not such a big deal. That allowed me to add Sly Requisitioner, which is so broken. It produces artifact creature tokens for free. And a lot of them!

Arcbound Reclaimer was just one of those cards that needed to be in the deck. It allows for pretty much free recursion. Well, at the cost of slowing down a draw, but with so much card advantage the deck generates, it's not really that big of a problem. Summoning Station didn't underperform, but it wasn't amazing, either. Sure, it goes infinite with Mycosynth Lattice and a sac outlet, but other than that it's clunky and is expensive to cast. It's still fun to produce 1,000,000 Pincher tokens at the end of the turn before yours, so I may end up missing it and putting it back, since it is part of 3-card wincon. Then again, I took out Nim Deathmantle, which was also part of a 3-card wincon. Oh well, only time will tell if I revert any changes.

So what is the current consensus on the more energy focused builds? Right now mine is looking like a weird fusion of the two. Sure, its getting me though but I took out the more expensive pieces (Dseason / Cradle) to focus on the energy and some undying stuff go tossed in until the next shipment.

So what is the current consensus on the more energy focused builds? Right now mine is looking like a weird fusion of the two. Sure, its getting me though but I took out the more expensive pieces (Dseason / Cradle) to focus on the energy and some undying stuff go tossed in until the next shipment.

I didn't pay much attention to energy after the suggestions I made in that section. So I haven't discussed it any further. It's still unique but I don't think that there's currently any major support for at the moment.

As for Altar of Dementia, it's a definite alternate wincon. When used with an engine that produces infinite tokens, you could mill out all opponents. I don't run it because it would need too much set up and on it's own it doesn't really do much (even though it's a free sac engine). Maybe it could probably be considered for the Artifact Build.

Bontu the Glorified - An indestructible creature with a sacrifice outlet. It's not expensive to use (although it's not free like Viscera Seer) but it's still scry 1. If that weren't enough, you also drain opponents for 1 life. On it's own it doesn't really do much but it still has lots of synergy with the deck. It remains to be seen what could be swapped out for testing since it's not so much an auto-include in the deck.

Throne of the God-Pharaoh - This deck sends lots of creatures into the red zone. This would be a way to also "damage" multiple opponents at the end of the turn. However, testing will prove its impact in a game. If anything, I'll try and see how it works out in the Artifact Matters build. If it's cheap, I'll test it in the Budget Build.

Protean Hulk getting unbanned means that it is seriously up for consideration for the Creatures Matter Build. I just gotta find what to cut for it! What were they thinking?! This is so gonna get banned again...

I actually ran it for awhile. It's a great card to have. I just found much better things to put in the deck. It's not in the honorable mention section so I'm going to have to put it there; like I said, it's a great card. Don't forget that it can also "steal" a creature from an opponent.

now i do not know if i missed a section about cards you do NOT run. i think this is helping to set the direction you want to go even more clear.

Thing is, there is no definitive way to play Mazirek. My primer mentions and explains a whole plethora of cards I don't even run. I wanted to keep to the spirit of having written a primer for it. However, they'd be great with this commander and anyone interested in building it. There are just so many cards that are synergistic here; it's very overwhelming. If I were to make a list of cards I don't play... Let's just say it would be too long.

i had lines where i sacrificed my lands to NB, tap those lands for mana and sac em too. then SR them back to the battlefield and you know what - eternal witness was the witness of the party too just to SR again. if i would have had mazirek...

Those are good suggestions. However, I want to stay clear from lands that cipt. I also don't want to run too many nonbasics. Those lands would be great if The Gitrog Monster were the commander of the deck and not necessarily Mazirek. I wanted to build The Gitrog Monster and included all those cards you mentioned. But that was a deck devoted entirely to abusing land interactions with the graveyard and The Gitrog Monster. However, I abandoned that deck because it was very similar to my Mazirek deck in some aspects and I want to try and have my decks do different things. That being said, sacrificing lands could be a path others would like to experiment with. That's all fine and dandy! Yet, I'm satisfied with that aspect of the deck - even though I do run The Gitrog Monster, Scapeshift, and Wave of Vitriol.

Well, it's that time of the year again: the end of spoiler season! Once more, my criteria is not simply complying with mana identity but it's possibility of inclusion in the deck either by being synergistic or being broken. Here're my thoughts and opinions on the cards from Hour of Devastation:

Apocalypse Demon - Worth considering since it doesn't simply consider the amount of certain card type but the number of cards per sé. It also has a sacrifice clause at the beginning of my upkeep which is never a bad thing for Mazirek. It's a bit high-costed but it has the potentially of being a huge flying beater. It's possibly winmore, but still worth mentioning.

Razaketh, the Foulblooded - Definite autoinclude. It tutors all while triggering Mazirek. This card is beyond useful. With it in play, a victory is almost certainly guaranteed.

Torment of Hailfire - With enough mana, this card could be very dangerous. However, I find it winmore in the sense that, if opponents have too little life and need to sacrifice permanents or discard cards to not die to it, they're gonna be killed off in combat anyways. Still, it's an amazing card and I don't think it'll be expensive to acquire, $-wise.

Hour of Promise - Gets you two of any land into play. With so many combinations to choose from that will really get you ahead, this spell is definitely worth considering.

Although this slightly rises the average CMC of the deck, these are the best swaps for the deck. Protean Hulk is a card that is too broken to overlook. Bitterblossom was the only remnant of its kind left in the deck so it was a natural swap for a creature. Razaketh, the Foulblooded was an autoinclude the moment it was spoiled. The reason I chose Eldrazi Monument is because, although its boons are amazing, I already run plenty of cards to protect my creatures from wraths. Its boons pale in comparison to being able to consistently tutor for anything all while providing a manaless sacrifice outlet. I'm pleased with these changes because fortunately I was able to take out 3 noncreatures and add 3 creatures in this creature-heavy build. All that's left to do is test to see just how amazing these changes are. I can already imagine myself sacrificing Protean Hulk to Razaketh .

I also updated the OP to reflect these changes in the decklist and to add the Hour of Devastation review. Eventually I will edit the deck stats.

I change the decklist to the non infinite non budget creatures matter build, and still went infinite. Primal Vigor + Sac Outlet that gives mana + Animation Module + Mazi means this is gonna make a giant army of 1/1 servos that become infinite/infinite beasts. Granted this combo isn't really efficient as a real infinite combo, but it got me a win so im fine with it

I change the decklist to the non infinite non budget creatures matter build, and still went infinite. Primal Vigor + Sac Outlet that gives mana + Animation Module + Mazi means this is gonna make a giant army of 1/1 servos that become infinite/infinite beasts. Granted this combo isn't really efficient as a real infinite combo, but it got me a win so im fine with it

Lol, yeah, that's why I stated that the infinite combos can be managed without literally going to infinity. You can just do it for as often as you need to secure the win. They can be disrupted so they're not ironclad. Some people are still against even that, but if you go about it in a very convoluted way then it should be fine (?), lol.

Animation Module is totally broken in the deck. It facilitates so many things and easily allows you to go infinite. It's just an amazing card overall.

I've been using this deck a lot recently and I've noticed that against any deck that runs Humility this deck sorta falls flat. As far as I can see only 2 cards can destroy enchantments that aren't creatures, those being Freyalise & Golgari Charm (Wave of Vitriol has no benefits in this situation, as Mazi won't trigger from it). Since your tutors are also creatures, you can only hope to draw into those 2, or get card draw like Arena or Dark Prophecy. Even with those two draw engines, an early game humility will just ruin the deck, and a late game won't be as devastating, but if your creatures with counters are removed after humility then it will almost stop the deck in its tracks. Also, same goes for Solemnity, though it doesn't remove any already existing counters, an early game one will pose a giant threat, but it's far easier to deal with than humility.
To sum up, you kinda need more non-creature enchantment removal or more ways to tutor?